SACUA demands parking solutions

In an attempt to remedy what members of the faculty's governing body said should be considered a potential crisis, they passed a motion yesterday to petition administrators for a response within 30 days regarding campus parking issues.

The Senate Advisory Committee on University Affairs Chair and Social Work Prof. Sherri Kossoudji will send a letter to associate Vice President for Facilities and Operations Hank Baier and Chief Financial Officer Robert Kasdin demanding they address growing parking needs.

Citing the fact that more people drive to campus in the winter months, SACUA Vice Chair and biology Prof. Lewis Kleinsmith said, "We anticipate a crisis within the next couple of months because of the weather and we would like to provide a short-term remedy."

"They know we have a terrible problem," he continued, "but they are interested in the long-term solution. I'm interested in how we're going to get through the winter."

Kossoudji said she also sees a problem on the horizon. "We have a short-term problem that is verging on the acute and it needs to be resolved because winter is coming," she said.

Patrick Cunningham, director of Parking and Transportation Services, said he was reluctant to comment, not having seen the SACUA proposal. But he did say that he would cooperate with the committee as much as he could.

"We'd like to respond to them and we will see what we can do to accommodate their requests," Cunningham said.

Kleinsmith suggested that the lack of adequate parking was possibly connected to the University's Parking Services overselling the number of passes per available space by nearly 50 percent.

For the permit year ending Aug. 31, 12,378 Blue Passes were sold for only 8,875 spots in the University's Blue Lots and 1,007 Gold Passes were sold for only 722 spots in the Gold Lots, according to Parking Services data.

"Generally, almost all parking is oversold to some degree because we know that on any given day, not all those who hold passes will park," Cunningham said in defense of the University's practice. He added that in the past, the ratio of permits sold to parking spots has been 1.3 to 1.

"There's just too few parking spaces ... I want to know why they are overselling," said sociology Prof. and LSA SACUA representative Don Deskins.

Kleinsmith said he agrees.

"After 10 o'clock in the morning, there's not a spot on Central Campus and I'm concerned for professors who need to give exams at a certain time but are late because they can't find a parking place," he said.

Cunningham said that past parking studies have shown that the University could use an extra 1,000 parking spaces.

"My goal as director is to create at least another 1,000 spots," he said. Cunningham acknowledged that no surface space exists for parking at ground level and parking structures are expensive.

For now though, Cunningham said that he would like people to consider using alternate forms of transportation.

"We want to encourage people to park in remote lots and take buses. We believe that our bus system is one of the best in the country and people should take advantage of it," he said.

Faculty members are not the only ones affected by the lack of spaces on campus.

LSA senior Matt Schultz said when he drove to class last year, he often found himself irritated because he could not find a space.

"I was late for class many times because I could not find a parking spot. Sometimes I would drive to the top of two structures before finding a place to park," he said.

Schultz though, said he did not park in University lots because Blue Passes are not available to students. In fact, none of the passes issued this year were given to students, according to Parking Services Data.

11-09-99